Speculation on near-future hard sci-fi, often with reference to GURPS Transhuman Space (TS).If you have enjoyed this article or it has been helpful to you please feel free to show your appreciation. Thank you.

Wednesday, 23 December 2015

Spybirds are reconnaissance and surveillance
robots that mimic real birds. Like real birds they fly by a combination of wing
flapping and soaring. A combination of solar power and rechargeable power cells
allow them to remain aloft for days at a time. At usual observation ranges they
are nearly impossible to distinguish from actual birds. The most sophisticated
models are actual aviods complete with artificial feathers. Bioroid cyborg
spybirds us a combination of electronic and biological components.

Spybirds
are a very useful surveillance system since it is seldom practical for an enemy
to shoot down every bird within visual range.

Bumblebots are very
small, flying surveillance and reconnaissance devices. Unlike the machines used
in cyberswarms they are usually used singularly or in small numbers.A typical
bumblebot resembles a pyramid with sides of one centimetre. A leg is at each
corner and at the peak is a spherical lens. Insect-like wings are mounted on
the sides. A bumblebot usually flies point first or point downwards. It may fly
point upwards if the controller wishes to look at the underside of something.
Alternately a bumblebot may grip onto a vertical or horizontal surface to
observe an area. Typically bumblebots are coloured light grey, making them hard
to spot when not in motion. Most bumblebots can also pick up sound when not
flying. Some even use their wings as additional audio pickup systems.

Chromes
were an element of the regrettably short-lived series “Almost Human”. They readily fit into TS as an genetic uplift template

The Chrome
Upgrade is often described as “the best genes that money can buy”. Chromes are
engineered to be intelligent, attractive and healthy. As a marketing strategy
the price of the Chrome Upgrade is deliberately kept high. Being a Chrome comes
with benefits other than just good DNA. Many chromes are
successful in their chosen field so likely to be at least financially
comfortable. “Chroming” does not come cheap so many Chromes are born into
wealthy and influential families.

Chromes
tend to be insular and cliquey. A Chrome is likely to readily find allies or
contacts among other Chromes. Mentors and patrons are also possible. Being a
Chrome can be two-edged, however. Some baseline humans or “naturals” resent or
are intimidated by Chromes. Some Chromes tend to be condescending to
“naturals”. Some Chromes are also wary of other upgrades or parahumans,
concerned that they may in factbe
better than the Chromes in some way.

Tunnelling
to avoid superior firepower or airpower became a common strategy in the late 20th
century. Many of the world’s disputed areas have extensive tunnel systems and TS
technology such as swarmdozers make further excavations relatively simple.

One
area denial system used for tunnels is the Israeli-made Kobold-80. This is a small
NAI cybershell about a foot across. It has four thick legs that can be used for
digging. When deployed the Kobold-80 will dig itself several burrows,
concealing them to the best of its ability. The main body of the cybershell has
a swarm-hive that can accommodate three cyberswarms. The cyberswarms are used
to disable or kill intruders. New burrows are often dug near the bodies of
former victims allowing investigators, looters or the curious to be attacked. The
mobility of the Kobold-80 and its burrows protect the cyberswarms from common
countermeasures such as EMP. Kobold-80s deployed in the same tunnel system will
work together, communicating by short range radio and ultrasonic signals.

The
presence of Kobold-80s is often hard to determine since they usually time the
attack of their cyberswarms for maximum effect and may decline to attack strong
parties. Why so many people enter a tunnel and are never seen again may become
a mystery or subject of local superstition.

The Maim-shredder
is an example of an instance where the distinction between cybershell and
weapon become unclear. Maim-shredders are deployed as area denial and
anti-intruder systems at high security installations. The robot is a very
flattened spheroid with contra-rotating rotors on its equator. Rotor-span is
half a yard, allowing the machine to manoeuvre indoors. The rotor tips are
reinforced and each has short lengths of monowire that are extended as the
rotors spin and contract as the system powers down. A small tripod stand is on
the underside of the machine.

Maim-shredders
are psychological weapons. Their appearance, sound, method of attack and even
their name is intended to be intimidating. Primary method of attack is to fly
within a few inches of the target and slash it with the spinning monowire. Most
Maim-shredders are programmed to attack the torso and legs rather than the
hands and face but they still inflict very nasty wounds. If programmed to the
Maim-shredder may buzz the intruder several times with close range passes and
play recordings calling upon the intruder sit down and await arrest. These
recordings are often in English and Mandarin as well as local languages.

The Maim-shredder
also has a siren and a high-intensity strobe light it can use to disorientate
and intimidate. Maim-shredders that see intruders aiming guns or similar
devices towards them will often trigger their strobes. Not only does this make
the Maim-shredder very difficult to shoot down but also disrupts the shooter’s
night vision. The strobe and siren also help locate intruders for support
units.

Maim-shredders
are fast moving but will have difficulty hitting prone targets. It will,
however, be hard to escape or neutralize the machines from such a position.

The
restrictions on the use of anti-personnel mines have led to the development of
a number of alternate means of area denial. Agma-beol uses a bioswarm of
genemod insects. Agma-beol are based on Africanized honey bees, which are
notorious for their aggressive defence of their territories. Modifications
include a barbless sting that can be used repeatedly without the death of the bee.
Many strains are omnivorous and will consume carrion or bee parasites in
addition to nectar, pollen and honey. Agma-beol are engineered to include a
broad spectrum immunity to most pesticides. As a control measure a strain may
be vulnerable to a particular pesticide, the identity of which is kept secret. Agma-beol
are best used in rural areas with enough local vegetation for the hive to
become self-sufficient in food.

An
insect director device is located in the defended area to control the bioswarm
with pheromones. However, if the director device is inoperative the swarm can
still be a threat. Attacks can be triggered by large creatures approaching too
close to the hive. Loud noises such as gunfire, engine noise, music, chainsaws,
leaf blowers or shouting may also trigger attacks. Agma-beol bioswarms will
pursue targets for more than 500 yards. This distance may be increased under
directions of a director device or if the target is marked with certain
pheromones or scents. One problem with using Agma-beol is their tendency to
form satellite hives that may be beyond the range of the director device. Satellite
hives are sometimes formed in the remains of dead large animals to provide a
ready source of carrion. Disturbing such remains can be hazardous!

Military forces in 2100 would be bound by a
number of international conventions so some of the weapons described in this
blog may be restricted or unavailable to them. Some clandestine agencies would
be inclined to ignore these restrictions. Many terrorist organisations would have
sufficient funding and technical support that they could develop some of these
weapons if they had a use for them. Some Transnational corporations would consider
these conventions to only be binding to them within an observing nation’s
borders. A number of secret laboratories researching various proscribed
subjects might be located both off-shore or off-world. Occasionally an explorer
in the ocean or asteroids may come across an abandoned installation, possibly
the victim of a covert attack or raid. Who knows what might remain there,
overlooked?

The 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention
prohibits the use of chemical weapons in warfare or by military forces. The CWC
does not distinguish between lethal agents and less-lethal chemicals such as
tear gas. While it is perfectly legal for a police force to use tear gas
against its citizens a military force faced with civil disobedience may not.
The CWC in fact obligates the military force to use more dangerous measures. By
2100 the CWC will have been amended to exclude certain prescribed non-lethal
chemical agents. While it is generally agreed the CWC applies to caustic and
corrosive weapons it is disputed as to whether cyberswarms that have similar
effects should also be restricted.

The Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention
(BTWC) of 1972 is observed or accepted by most countries of the world, although
some signatories have reservations as to what is permissible. Various
amendments against genetic and nanoviral weapons have been added but the events
that triggered the Pacific War shows that not all nations and factions hold
with these.

The Hague Convention of 1899 forbids the use
of poison weapons and is observed by most military forces even if they are not
signatories. Drugged bullets and Hypo/Terminator cyberswarms may contravene
this convention if used with certain fillings. The status of Nanoburn is disputed,
since it is not a poison but effectively functions like one.

The Convention on Certain Conventional
Weapons (CCWC) of 1980/83 included the prohibition of using deliberately
incendiary weapons against civilians. By the latter half of the 20th
century most military forces had voluntarily abandoned weapons such as
flamethrowers. This trend continued in the 21st century with most
forces phasing out the use of white and red phosphorous-based munitions and
napalm-like weapons. Certain radical groups will still favour these for their
terror effect. Some radical religious groups consider flame the holy way to
purify “abominations”.

The Ottawa Treaty of 1999 prohibits the use
of anti-personnel mines. It does not address mixed mines, anti-tank mines,
remote controlled claymore mines, anti-handling devices, booby-traps and other
“static” explosive devices. Several major nations including the US, Russia and
China are not signatories. Despite this many nations have also reduced their
use of other types of mines and/or restricted their use to fenced in areas.
Many small cybershells and cyberswarms that can be used as area denial systems
effectively function as anti-personnel mines but are not covered by the treaty.
Future posts on this blog will describe a number of alternate area denial
systems.

The Cluster Munition Convention 2008 was
imposed on the military by a pressure group. Many nations are not signatories
to this convention or have found many of its restrictions impractical. Delayed
action munitions are seldom used in 2100, however and most sub-munitions now
used by military forces include reliable self-destruct systems to minimize
collateral casualties.

Surveillance worms are devices
described in GURPs Ultratech 4e but are a very credible device for TS.

A Surveillance worm resembles a
very small snakebot and functions rather like a mobile fibre-optic camera cable
or endoscope. Some surveillance worms may be as small as 0.1” wide and 2” long.
Like many snakebots it may have a visual sensor at both ends. Despite the name
the worm may have a number of legs to assist in climbing and linear movement,
rather like a caterpillar or millipede. It can also move by a more worm-like
peristaltic action. Its light source illuminates a two-yard cone. The user
can see whatever the worm is looking at but has No Depth Perception (p. B145).
Worms have microcommunicators and can communicate with each other when used in
multiples or relay signals from other worms. Alternately a worm can be
controlled via a fiber-optic cable as thin as a fishing line to avoid emitting
any signals.

Customs men and police officers may search a suspect or package
by literally emptying a can of worms over them!

Surveillance worms provide +3
on Search attempts. A Vision-5 roll is required to spot the worm.

Neither GURPS Ultra-tech(4e) nor Transhuman Space (3e) give a movement rate for the surveillance dust cyberswarm. On the other hand, p.UT106 tells us:-“The swarm is programmed to remain in a particular place, observe for a period of time, and then return; it can also transmit information or be ordered to go to a different location.” It can be argued that if surveillance dust is not animate it is not really a swarm of microbots, just a collection of sensors. It is likely that surveillance dust comes in many varieties, some types being simple sensors, others motile microbots.Dust mites are 0.2-0.3 mm in length, which indicates that legs may be an adequate form of locomotion for surveillance microbots. Some wasps are only 0.13mm long so surveillance dust capable of powered flight could potentially be built. How fast should dust microbots be allowed to move? An inch per second is a reasonable rate, which translates as 5ft per minute or 3mph. In terms of body lengths this is actually very fast! “Surveillance fluff” is my name for a variant of surveillance dust sensors that resemble dandelion seeds. These descend at a rate of approximately 3cm/sec so if released at 2,000ft can gather data on an area below them for around 5½ hours. Transhuman Space surveillance fluff may be even smaller than that shown on the right. Surveillance fluff can be deployed by a variety of mechanisms including mortar bombs, UAVs and small rockets. Surveillance dust is very difficult to defend against. Not only may you have dust on your clothes, skin and hair but also in your lungs and nasal passages. An agent could blow dust in through a keyhole or air vent, or send it to be scattered by a millibot or surveillance worm. If the dust is motile it can be dropped in a neighbouring room and directed to find its own way to the objective. Secure areas will be literally swept for bugs! Hooverbots will be a familiar sight, constantly cleaning every available surface and regularly flashing collected dust with an EMP. “Dust eaters” will constantly circulate and filter the room’s air. Larger cleaning robots will be supplemented by anti-surveillance cyberswarms. Before important meetings the room and its occupants may be flashed with EMP devices, although this may cause complications for implants such as pacemakers and AI companions. The gangster movie trope of meeting in saunas or bathhouses may take on added relevance in a word where surveillance dust is used!

“Conventional over
the horizon artillery support is provided by rapid-fire. high-velocity
electromagnetic cannon. as slower, indirect-lire rockets and missiles are
vulnerable to point-defense weapons. Artillery rounds typically have
satellite guidance or homing submunitions though dumb shells are also used in
intense electronic-warfare environments.”

This is the first instance where the ideas on this blog may stray from what is
canon (pun
intended). While an electromagnetic weapon might be able to fire
projectiles at a higher velocity than a conventional gun or launcher it is
debatable as to whether this is an advantage for an over the horizon weapon.
The higher the velocity the flatter the trajectory, which is not such a useful
property for a round you want to drop over the horizon onto a distant target.
Higher velocity will also make it harder to alter the trajectory and requires a
faster, more sophisticated guidance system. As was implied by my brief
description of airstrike systems in a previous
post, other systems may continue to be used, particularly for targets
beyond that range of electromagnetic field guns. Another post may deal with
tactical battlefield systems. Today I will restrict myself to description of a
deep strike system

A variety of systems may be available and other systems will be described in
later posts. One strategy to avoid air defences is to fly low, exploiting nap
of the earth (NOE) techniques. This is particularly effective against line of
sight systems such as lasers. Possibly the defender may use an airborne laser
system for a “look-down, shoot down” defence but such aircraft will in turn be
vulnerable to an attacker’s anti-aircraft systems.

On TS Earth low level penetration attacks are conducted by cruise-UCAVs. As we
will often find in TS the cruise-UCAV is a mixture of familiar and different. A
typical cruise UCAV at first glance does not seem that different from modern
cruise missiles. Low level flight places some practical restrictions on the
design of an aircraft. Unless flying over the sea or very flat terrain the
undulations of the ground make speeds of more than 570 mph impractical. There
is little point in designing a cruise missile with supersonic capability since
it cannot use it! Subsonic speeds also help contribute to the stealth of the aircraft.
Low level air is denser than at higher altitudes and this favours an aircraft
with a smaller wing area to give a smoother flight. This is why cruise missiles
have small stub-wings and can fly using body lift. The cruise-UCAV not only
looks like a cruise missile but is of a similar size. It is about 20 ft long
and under 2 ft in width, allowing it to be launched from the various systems
that were already in service. Thus, other than a little more attention to
stealth features the TS cruise-UCAV looks very similar to contemporary cruise
missiles. Internally the UCAV has a much more sophisticated guidance and sensor
system and will probably be piloted by a LAI. It may use ramjet propulsion
rather than a turbojet. Rather than a fixed warhead the UCAV has an internal
weapon-bay capable carrying a wide variety of missiles or submunitions. The
weapon bay can carry other systems such as reconnaissance packs, EW devices,
cyberswarms, surveillance
fluff/dust, less-lethal weapons, chemicals and so on. Fitted with air
to air missiles it can engage airborne targets. The UCAV is designed to release
its payload close to the target(s) and return to friendly airspace if possible.
Most modern cruise missiles are seldom used at their
full potential range so a device that can attack its target and then return
for reuse is a logical progression.

Like a manned aircraft the cruise-UCAV gives the option of aborting or
redirecting an attack right up to the moment that the weapons are released.

The weapon-bay makes the cruise-UCAV a very versatile system. It can fly down a
road column, dropping a bomb on each vehicle it passes over. Over a clustered
target such as a staging area it can release all of its munitions at once. In a
previous
post I mentioned that robot combat systems can be hard landed by a
glide-bomb type capsule. A cruise-UCAV could bomb a target then deploy robot
combat systems to mop-up, assess damage and hinder repair efforts. The UCAV’s
own sensors can also assess attack effects and use this information to
customize follow-up attacks.

Ideally the Cruise-UCAV releases its weapons from outside laser engagement
range but some mission profiles do not allow this. Cruise-UCAVs have ablative
surfaces to provide some protection from point defence lasers.

Cruise-UCAVs are launched from standard launching tubes mounted on ships,
submarines or ground vehicles. Alternately they are dropped from larger
aircraft. Landing system varies with different designs. Some simply cut engine
and deploy a parachute. Other designs land conventionally on a skid or belly
land on water or a special landing surface. Mid-air recovery by cargo aircraft
is also practiced.

The Cruise-UCAV can be modelled as a smarter, reusable version of a modern
cruise missile. Based on contemporary examples the weapons-bay can be assumed
to have a capacity of 1,000lbs and 28 cubic feet. Improvements in engine and
avionics technology may free up more space inside a TS cruise-UCAV so the GM
may allow capacity to be increased by 50%.